Re: Purslane/soil deficiency question

Joan E Gussow (jeg30@columbia.edu)
Sun, 10 Nov 1996 19:33:19 -0500 (EST)

I'm not a soil scientist, but Cocannouer in his book "Weeds, Guardians
of the Soil (Devin-Adair, first published 1950, reprinted 1980 in paper)
has nothing but good things to say about "pusley" and on page 5 of his
book he has a farmer point out that the corn in his field is doing best
where the purslane is. Purslane is the cover drawing on the book. Worth
reading even if you do get rid of the purslane with the right nutrient
mix.
Eat locally

On
Fri, 8 Nov 1996, Fred C. Walters wrote:

> >To: "D. Meyer" <dmeyer@win.bright.net>
> >From: acresusa@mailhost.accesscom.net (Fred C. Walters)
> >Subject: Re: Purslane/soil deficiency question
> >Cc:
> >Bcc:
> >X-Attachments:
> >
> >>Can anybody tell me what deficiency I may have in my soil if I have
> >>purslane. I know the stuff spreads rapidly, and I'm trying to pull the weed
> >>by hand and remove it from the area, but I'm wondering if there is an
> >>imbalance in the soil that's allowing it to take hold. Thanks. D. Meyer
> >>Donna Meyer
> >
> >
> >Don't know if you still need the info, but here goes:
> >
> >Purslane grows in soils with:
> >Ca very low
> >phosphate very low
> >K2O very high
> >Mg very high
> >Fe high
> >Cu high
> >Humus low
> >Porosity low
> >Moisture low
> >Salt high
> >
> >It also indicates low carbon in the soil -- hard to kill if pulled up.
> >Seeds will not endure and set new plants if cation exchange is maintained
> and Ca/Mg/pH properly balanced.
> >
> >References: Weeds & Why They Grow by Jay McCaman, Weeds, Control Without
> Poisons by Charles Walters.
> >
>
>
>
>